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Minnesotan writes "According to a Twincities.com article: If you need discounted inkjet- or laser-printer cartridges, Wisconsin's LaserMonks say they'll give you a doozy of a deal while you 'support prayer for the world'. The Cistercian priests - yes, they're actual Catholic monks - oversee a novel e-commerce enterprise out of their rural abbey. Proceeds go to maintain the monastery and finance charitable works around the world."

There Catholics it doesn't mean that they have to be Open Source Zealots. In my reasoning using windows is a Bad Idea which will loose you to loose a lot of money in the future, but using windows is not evil, just not the best decision.

Joke apart, those monks could do it : can you imagine Lexmark dragging them to court over this? Sure they'd be guilty, but Lexmark's sales would take a big dip, so they'd never do it. How's that for a DMCA circumvention scheme?

This is an updated verson of a very old (middle ages) tradition of monastaries doing some specialized task (and doing it well) and using thier product to sell or barter for needed supplies, food, etc...
This practice kept a lot of trades and information alive that might have otherwise died out. It would take a reel jerk to sue them for DMCA violations too =:-)

Yeah, I went to catholic HS and I wil tell you, there is no better fund raiser than a catholic organization. As you said, they have a long tradition of "charitable" works and they just update them for the times they are in.

This is particularly true of the Cistercian order, to which the lasermonks belong. In the middle ages, they were a sort of poor newcomer compared to the Benedictines or Dominicans, and therefore were given only marginal, hilly lands for their monasteries. Thereby short on income, they developed their monasteries into high-tech medieval factories, doing things like textile production or metalwork with waterpowered machines (water power being one asset they did have in the mountains). Cistercian cloth was amo

Not that weird. Trappist monasteries have been brewing beer for centuries. They've been making cheese as well. Perhaps the best known Trappist beer and cheese are from the Scourmont abbey in southern Belgium -- can you say Chimay [chimay.com]:-)

I heard some of these monasteries actually make money off brewing beer!

There is a great and long tradition of Trappist monastaries brewing beer. The Belgian trappist ales are some of the finest in existence. If you like your beer dark, rich and potent then there is nothing finer. The best known are the Chimay [chimay.be] ales which are truly excellent, especially the chocolatey Trippel.

Goodness I think its time to leave work and find God at the bottom of a bottle...

Friend saw a Belgian monastery like this. Monks on one side of the highway, brewery on the other. There was a walk-overpass with an conspicuos silvery-shiny insulated hefty pipe tagged along. They proudly explained to him that the pipe on the overpass was their "beer main" to supply the monastery on the other side of the road. There was beer on tap in the hallways in the living qarters. (My friend did not get to see their chappel, but I have my guess...)

Exactly. I can't recall offhand what the literal Greek translation is, but the New Testament injunctions are against getting/being drunk (i.e., loss of control), not drinking.

Many Christians observe that, since one of the first things to go when drinking is your ability to tell whether your self-control is impaired, the easiest way to avoid losing control is not to drink to begin with. Some just recommend it informally, some leave it up to the individual, others (like the Mormons) make it dogma.

"No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities."

1 Timothy 5:23, New King James version.

Only the Mormons are against all drinking, really, though a few other denominations (e.g. Methodists) did participate in Prohibition, ages ago. The Bible only really condemns being drunk (not just drinking) as parent says.

Only three monks know the identity of the 130 plants, how to blend them and how to distill them into this world famous liqueur. They are also the only ones who know which plants they have to macerate to produce the natural green and yellow colours. And they alone supervise the slow ageing in oak casks.

(text from http://www.chartreuse.fr/pa_green&yellow_uk.htm)

Wonderful liquer. Tastes like drinking a Christmas tree, but one made of 55% alcohol.

According to the History Channel. Beer was actually invented by Catholic Monks. During lent which is a period of fasting, the monks made beer as a high calorie drink to give them energy to complete their tasks. When they realized that they were getting drunk off it, they sent some to the Vadegin (spelling?) in Rome to see it was worthy. When the officials in Rome tried the beer (who are used to drinking wine) found the taste revolting and commended the monks for their sacrifice.

Welcome our new monk overlords, well actually they kinda are if they talk to god and all.

In my prayers tonight: "God, give me strength to put up with my job to take care of my Fiance..."
God: "I can do that for you, but buy some new toner for your HP Laserjet 1100 for only $50 at http://www.lasermonks.com and you'll get a raise and your Fiance will love you forever..."

In the year 5057 A.D., a consortum of middle aged monks form a weapons production business, selling their wares exclusively to Christian battle outposts and missionaries in distant galaxies, fighting a holy war against the masses of Romulan infidels...

and so these intergalatic boomstick hawkers called themselves...PhaserMonks.

Actually, copyright did not begin to form as an idea until the 17th - 18th Centuries.

The huge cost of reproducing a book meant that it was not a problem until the movable type printing press became popular at the end of the fifteenth century - which ultimately put the monks out of that kind of business.

Interestingly, the way that reproduction happened in the middle ages (and before) was was very similar the way that people copy music now. Essentially, a monastery would swap works with it's "friends" (other monasteries, generally).

Since I'm pretty sure those ancient monks never had permission to copy any of the works they did,

Citations, please?

I'm pretty sure they did. Because many of the copied manuscripts have little line-counts in the margins, called stichoi, noting how many lines the scribe copied that day, so that the person hiring the monks to do the work knew how much to pay him. Perfectly legitimate job.

Having fewer signups into priesthood, the Catholic Church officially announced that they will be issuing standard lasers to people who complete the training program. The Pope noted that "this is a momentous occasion. Since the film Star Wars came out, the Church had contemplated issuing Light Sabers but did not want the public to know that we had such technology. Until now, we only dress like jedi knights."

On a more serious note, it's a difficult job raising money in a monastery. Unless you happen to a

The article mentions in passing that the monks achieve their great 90% discount prices through "canny negotiations" with manufacturers, but distinctly does not say which manufacturers. Could they be the original mfrs? Are HP and Lexmark welcoming these guys as competitors and cutting them a huge break? Or (more likely) are we talking about the same overseas child-employing sweatshops that supply all the other incredibly cheap goods we're used to? I'd kind of like to know.

Is there any such thing as a moderate Libertarian? (Someone who is a middle of the road conservative on fiscal issues, and middle of the road liberal on social issues) I like Libertarian beliefs in small doses, but usually it seems they go to far. Most people consider them extremists so much to the point that I would not put an affiliation with Campus Libertarians on my resume.

Very few people are "uncircumcized", which is a difficult bit of plastic surgery The word is "intact".

Yes, my mistake with the terminology.

I believe your assertion that "very few" people are circumcized may apply only to the US. Many people outside the US are "intact". There is no medical reason why the procedure is performed - anyone who bathes on a regular or even semi-regular basis has nothing to worry about in the genital hygene dept.

Cantate Domino [catholicism.org]:
"It firmly believes, professes, and teaches that the matter pertaining to the law of the Old Testament, of the Mosaic law, which are divided into ceremonies, sacred rites, sacrifices, and sacraments, because they were established to signify something in the future, although they were suited to the divine worship at that time, after our Lord's coming had been signified by them, ceased, and the sacraments of the New Testament began; and that whoever, even after the passion, placed hope in thes

Boy, could we ever have some fun with this one!
Can you prove that Caesar existed? Can you prove that Napoleon tried to conquer much of Europe? Did these things happen: Absolutely! Why? Because there is a great deal of evidence. But how do you prove these things? Impossible! You must weigh the evidence. Saying that Christianity is a fairy tale because of a lack of proof is pretty lame -- not really worthy of slashdot if you ask me.

Which version are we talking about here? If it's a collection of first hand accounts why so many different edits?

Do you mean in edits in transmission or translation? As far as transmission goes, that's what textual criticism [wikipedia.org] is for. Theoretically, critical texts should be able to cull out later edits from the original text. If you check the underlying text of modern bible translations, there are only trivial differences. Even the non-critical texts (like the Textus Receptus [wikipedia.org]) don't provide a lot of gr

The Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Eastern Orthodox Churches (collectively the Apostolic Churches, because they have valid, unbroken apostolic succession [which is also debatably claimed by Anglican bishops]) derive all translations of their bibles directly or indirectly from the Hebrew scriptures (the Law and the Prophets) and the Septuagint. The Septuagint adds several Greek texts to the Law and the Prophets to round out the Christian Old Testament (including the Wisdom of Je

Not quite, part of the deal about writing off charitable contributions is that you don't recieve any goods or services in exchange for the donation, otherwise the church would be the world's most powerful outsourcing firm and grocery.

Every reciept I've ever recieved for a donation says something to the effect of 'no goods or services were exchanged for this donation, keep this form for taxes'